Seether are back and enjoying a big year behind their ‘Isolate and Medicate’ album. Frontman Shaun Morgan recently spent some time chatting with ‘Loudwire Nights’ host Full Metal Jackie about the disc and he also opened up with some thoughts on the current 2014 Uproar Festival. Check out the chat below:

It’s Full Metal Jackie on ‘Loudwire Nights’ with Seether’s Shaun Morgan. Shaun, ‘Isolate and Medicate’ is the title of the new album. How much of that title is autobiographical?

I think the whole process of writing this album pretty much can be summed up by the three words. That’s why I picked it and usually I would do something a little more vague. I felt like that was just the way to approach this one. I spent most of it in a little room locked away. It’s autobiographical and pretty much straight to the point.

Artistically it’s important for musicians to evolve. Did that realization consciously affect the end result of ‘Isolate and Medicate’? Or is the album purely subconscious growth that only reveals itself in hindsight?

I think whenever we write anything. I just write stuff that I’m doing at the time. Organically, as the years go by, you tend to grow and diversify a little bit more and you tend to explore different sounds and different songwriting techniques and different styles. I don’t think that I consciously put it there. I like to write stuff in a certain style and certain way. I think that I would just take the best stuff. I feel like this is the best representation of where we are now as a band. I’m really proud of the album. For me it’s the best songwriting we’ve done so far. I’m the proudest of this one so far out of all of them.

Concord Music Group bought the rights to a significant portion of the Wind-up Records catalog — Creed, Evanescence and Seether. Initially, what apprehension did you have about the sale and how did it ultimately make for a better situation to make the new album?

Well we found out about it through a press release that was released early. And it was street teamers that got a hold of me and asked me what was going on. I got a call from my manager about an hour later telling me, confirming that it’s basically been sold. We had no forewarning. We had no idea who this company was. It was all music that like, jazz and blues, and heritage stuff. It has nothing to do with what’s on the rock charts so I was pretty freaked out by it and I thought our careers were over to be honest because we, I thought we had been purchased as a catalog deal and that was pretty much it. From what I could gather online from the research, there was no moving forward parts from there. But thankfully they hired a big rock staff and everyone came in and started working on this album. It’s been a godsend in that sense.

You know our relationship with Wind-up Records to be honest wasn’t very good and to be honest … We didn’t even get an email or a phone call or a text or anything from Wind-up Records saying, “Hey, thanks so much but we had to do this for ourselves or you know this is really great in our hearts but we have no choice.”

So for me, at first it was terrifying, but … we’re excited about where was are at right now and we are looking forward to the future.

What makes Seether and Godsmack a perfect billing for the Uproar Festival Tour?

I think both bands are hard rock bands, and I think that there is this feeling for years that rock is dying and I disagree. I’ve been a fan of Godsmack since I was younger, way before we did our first album even. So I’m a fan of their music and I think it’s a good pairing. Our set covers a 13-year span and theirs covers 15 years so that fills up some songs that have been symbols and have been successful for both bands. In that sense, if you come to the show, you’re going to hear a bunch of songs you want to hear live.

They put on a pretty crazy show with the lighting and pyro, we just come out and rock out. I think ultimately both bands are rooted in the same spirit. We come from the same genre in a sense. I think we compliment each other. I think, again, if anyone spends their hard earned money on a ticket, it’s going to be all worth their while.

How much does being exposed to other bands on festival tours affect the way you think about your own music?

I don’t let it affect me at all, actually. Unless they’re bands that inspire and that happens quite often. The last time I was happy to be at a festival and to be a fan was when I watched the Deftones play. I’ve been a fan since their first album and just to watch them play is incredibly inspiring. It makes you want to go back to the drawing board and write some new songs. Those are the kind of moments I look forward to.

In this sense, with Uproar there are a whole bunch of bands that I — to be honest, don’t know a lot about. I’m looking forward to seeing some new music and hearing some new bands and seeing what the state of rock is right now. Occasionally there’s a band that comes up that blows my mind, I’m a huge fan and I watch all their shows and I become quite inspired to write music because of what they’re doing. Hopefully that’s what happens, but I’m looking forward to having a good time and end of the summer, beginning of fall, kind of rock ‘n’ roll summer camp thing. We’re taking rock to as many cities as we can.

Thanks to Seether’s Shaun Morgan for the interview. Pick up the band’s ‘Isolate and Medicate’ album at iTunes or Amazon. And look for the group on the Uproar Festival at these locations. Tune in to Loudwire Nights With Full Metal Jackie’ Monday through Friday 7PM through midnight online or on the radio. To see which stations and websites air ‘Loudwire Nights,’ click here.

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